The Fear
by Durecel
Summary: Alistair is a 21 year old mage of Fairy Tail, utilising the lost magic of the Arc of Embodiment. This particular story is set after the events of the Alvarez Empire arc. Follow Alistair as he confronts his inner turmoil along with Lucy Heartfilia after the pair built a working relationship since their joining of the guild. Rated T for language, Lucy x OC implied. Out of sync.
1. Chapter 1

Lucy's plan had worked to perfection, Alistair was in the bank waiting within the ever enlarging queue and their target had just entered the building. A loud bang echoed throughout the lobby of the bank as the target fired a shotgun shell into the air, peppering the ceiling with pellet holes. Everyone in the bank ducked down and began to scream in fright.

The Joker made his way over to the counter, laughing manically like a drunkard as he leaned over the counter to look one of the cashiers straight in the eye. "What's the matter? You look scared." He asked calmly, tilting his head slightly. "Is it the scars? You wanna know how I got 'em?" The green haired man asked whilst pointing to the somewhat obvious scars on his cheeks.

"Not particularly," Before Joker could react he was swatted across the face with a right hook from Alistair. The clown landed awkwardly on the deck, but recovered quickly to fire at the red head. The blast merely impacted into a shield of green light causing the lead pellets to fall harmlessly to the ground. It gave the Joker a chance to get to his feet and pull a knife that he attempted to impale Alistair with as he made a slashing lunge towards the Fairy Tail mage.

Alistair moved back in a defensive stance to avoid the incoming slashes. He caught the Joker's arm on an upward slash with the clown's arm now high in the air before landing a palm strike into the rogue mage's jaw followed up by an elbow strike to the neck and knee to the groin.

The knee strike caused the Joker to double over in pain, laughing as a result, before the back of his knees were kicked in leaving him open to be put into a reverse arm bar.

At the same moment, Lucy had taken out the Joker's goons with a combination of the use of her Fleuve d'étoiles along with Virgo. As a result she was now helping to get as many civilians out of the building as possible whilst Alistair had the upper hand.

Just as Alistair was about to dislocate the Joker's shoulder he was affected by a cascade of thoughts. His eyes widened, his head was in agony as what turned out to be memories flooded into his vision, he grabbed his own head by both hands, releasing Joker from the reverse arm bar, who used that as his queue to free himself from under Alistair.

The Fairy Tail mage dropped to the floor, huffing and panting hard as image after image flooded in, causing him to become visibly distressed by whatever it was he was seeing.

"You know, you should really have looked up my magic with a bit more… detail." The Joker began to circle Alistair, taunting him as he spoke. "You see, my magic – fear magic, by the way – causes people to, implode in on themselves, figuratively speaking of course. Which you already knew, judging by Blondie over there, not feeling a thing." He said pointing over to Lucy who was now on her guard, fleuve d'etoiles armed and ready. "But, clearly, you didn't take into account the fact that, coming into physical contact with me, is a very, very, bad, idea."

Sending Virgo back to the Spirit World, Lucy swapped to her Taurus Star Dress. The blonde mage cracked her whip into the floor, sending a shockwave towards Joker who haphazardly leapt out of the way. Lucy followed up with another, much larger Earth Wave that not only struck the Joker, but shattered the windows looking out onto the street behind.

Just as The Joker was standing up, Lucy, who had come in close let an undercut straight into the villain's solar plexus whilst shouting; "Lucy… PUNCH!"

The impact sent the green haired mage careering into a wall, leaving quite the crater from the force. The Joker fell face first to the floor, gasping profoundly trying to take in as much air as possible having been fully winded by the Celestial Spirit mage.

Simultaneously Joker and Alistair stood up slowly, Joker laughing and cringing in pain at the same time unnerving Lucy who stole her resolve ready to strike another blow to her opponent if needs be. As it happened, she needn't have worried as Alistair launched into the Joker in a blind rage, landing strike after strike after strike into the criminal. He dropped a two handed fist into the clown mage's back, creating a slight crater in the floor, after which he hauled the Joker up before upper-cutting him in the jaw causing him to hit the ceiling. Gravity took its hold as it pulled the Joker back to the ground.

Alistair morphed his arm into the heavily armoured Radiant Wave Surger, firing its slash harken type arm forward to grab the Joker midair, sending him through the window that Lucy had previously shattered, slamming into a concrete wall on the opposite side of the street. The redheaded mage fired two more slash harkens at the battered criminal, pinning him to the wall further. He retracted the surger back, morphing it back to his normal arm. Jumping into the air, retracting the other two slash harkens, Alistair flew feet first towards the dazed Joker, landing a heavy two footed impact into his chest. The slash harkens came adrift from the wall dispersing in the process as Alistair pushed off of the Joker, back-flipping into the middle of the road opposite.

His right arm morphed into a Hadron Cannon, poised to fire at the insane clown opposite him. Just as he was about to fire Lucy stepped in front of Alistair's outstretched arm, her own arms outstretched with a look of fierce determination on her face.

It was at that moment Lucy got a clear view of Alistair's face, specifically his eyes. They were puffy and bloodshot, caused by tears that had been streaming down her guildmate's face the whole time he'd been ripping into their capture target. The look in his eyes had switched from one of murderous intent and hatred to one of utter fear and deep sorrow, further emphasised by how his body was beginning to shake uncontrollably.

"Alistair, stop! If you fire that spell, you could kill him!"

Fresh tears began to fall from Alistair's eyes, his bottom lip was quivering uncontrollably, and he even had to hold his right arm still for it was shaking so much. He was now scowling at Lucy but his eyes couldn't hide that he was still deeply upset by something. Magic poured into the arm cannon in an effort to force Lucy out of Alistair's way. Lucy however, remained steadfast and unflinching as she refused to move out of her teammate's line of fire.

In the end Alistair couldn't bare it anymore, letting out a distressed yell, scrunching his eyes shut and head turning away slightly, for a split second Lucy honestly believed that Alistair was going to fire his hadron cannon at her. Fortunately it was not the case as Alistair swung his arm down toward the ground to his right letting loose all the pent up power and emotions into the earth next to the Fairy Tail pair.

The charged particle beam tore the ground up, almost like a land shark until it impacted the canal at the end of the street, exploding in a fountain of water and spray.

Alistair's arm morphed back to normal. He could no longer take it anymore; he pulled Lucy into a tight embrace, crying hysterically into her shoulder. For a moment Lucy was completely taken aback by the sudden outpouring of emotions that she simply stood there for a brief second not knowing what to do. As the situation dawned on her, the blonde girl wrapped her arms tightly around Alistair, pulling him closer to her. The pair stood in the middle of the totally trashed street, not saying anything as he cried out as much of the pain he must've been hiding away and she remained quiet, silently encouraging him to let it all out.

By the time the Rune Knights had arrived to take the man only known as The Joker away, Alistair had since ceased his emotional torrent, deciding it would be best for him to sit out the explanation to the authorities of what had happened, seeing as how most of the damage was his fault. He was sat on the kerbside, opposite the concrete wall where he'd slammed the Joker into earlier. His fingers were interlocked in front of his face obscuring the lower half.

Despite having half of his face covered, Lucy could still see the mixture of guilt and torment in Alistair's eyes. The cross between wrecking an entire city street and whatever the hell Joker's fear magic had made him see was weighing heavy on her guildmate's heart. She'd only made physical contact with the Joker once and she was beginning to feel bummed out over what had happened between herself and her father not long after her mother's passing, she couldn't begin to imagine what sort of torment Alistair had relived from his past.

"Hey, if you want to talk about it, I'm here Alistair."

"I'm sorry, Lucy, really I am."

That was the last time either one spoke to the other for the rest of the day as they made the short trip back to Magnolia. News had already spread to the guild about what had happened to the bank and street, no thanks in part due to Warren's communication lachryma, as Makarov was already weeping at the damages cost he was expecting to have to pay out. Erza was fuming however, and let her rage known as the pair walked through the door, causing Lucy to recoil in horror as the mage known as Titania bore down on them both with a wicked red aura surrounding her.

Alistair didn't so much as blink, he was far too downtrodden to even consider becoming fearful of Erza's impending punishment that she had in store. Just as Erza was about to hit full flow in her tirade, Alistair merely turned away, placed a hand on Lucy's shoulder, muttering before he left the guildhall.

"I'll see you later Luce…"

Erza was about ready to throttle Alistair for ignoring her and being so rude as to turn around and walk away from her. Lucy intervened however, holding the scarlet haired mage back as she tried to explain their nakama's behaviour.

"Erza, stop! You don't know what fully happened!"

The rest of the members in the hall simply watched as Alistair walked out of view of them, startled by how miserable the usually stoic mage had seemed.

It would be the last any of them saw him for a week…


	2. Chapter 2

One week on from the capture job and Alistair was still to leave his bed, let alone his house. He'd simply stayed there either asleep or just lie there thinking about his past, only leaving his comfortable pit's embrace to relieve himself.

The Fairy Tail mage was beginning to lose weight, and was also beginning to look dishevelled having not shaved or washed for a week.

It was two in the afternoon; Alistair was asleep again, hiding his conscious thoughts in his subconscious slumber. The sound of a window opening echoed through the hallways of Alistair's home, waking him from his slumber.

In an instant he was out of his bed - only in his boxers - armed with a 5.7mm pistol held in both hands. He had the weapon held in a firing position ready to confront any possible intruder. Alistair was simply being cautious, he knew as well as anyone that it could be nothing. The odds however, were stacked in favour of the there being an intruder.

Alistair had designed and built his home himself, and part of that design was a low tech alarm system, one that normal people would simply see as a flaw in the design. Certain floorboards were designed to creak in a certain way when stepped on that would echo throughout the house so that even in a deep sleep, Alistair would hear it.

Of course, there was more to the total security system than just the floorboards, but in his sombre stupor, Alistair hadn't armed them a week ago.

The creaking could be heard from the kitchen downstairs. With his weapon raised, Alistair quickly and silently approached the kitchen expecting to find a burglar or some other schmuck that was unwelcome.

As soon as a mop of salmon pink hair and blue cat ears came into view, Alistair knew exactly who'd broken in.

"Natsu, why the fuck are you in my house?"

"Whoa Alistair! Put the gun down!" Natsu wailed, startled by the fact that Alistair was pointing his gun at the dragon slayer.

"Get out, and I will."

"But Alistair, we only came to check on you! You haven't been to the guild for a week!" Happy pleaded with his fellow guild-mate.

"And you do that by breaking into my house?" The redhead deadpanned.

"We break into Lucy's house all the time and she doesn't mind!"

Alistair didn't even give them the benefit of a quip for the idiocy in that statement.

"Alistair, whatever it is that's eating you up, everyone in the guild is worried about you. What's wrong?" For the first time since joining Fairy Tail, that was the first time Alistair had ever heard Natsu say something not only compassionate, but reasonably intelligent. And whilst he might've been impressed by it, Alistair was not in the mood to be dealing with Natsu, especially when it came to opening up about his personal issues. He took a deep breath before beginning to speak, lowering the pistol as he did.

"Natsu, I appreciate your willingness to help me, sincerely I do. But, you need to understand something about myself and my condition.

"I'm not an open person, I don't go out of my way to tell people about my problems as I don't want to bring them down too or upset myself even further. It's stupid, I know, but that's how it is with me.

"People with this condition, this, horrible and debilitating illness need to open up about what it is that's causing it on their own. If we start to talk about it, it means that we're ready and, relatively, comfortable to do so. If someone else starts it off, we become defensive, almost to the point of aggressiveness in some cases."

"Like now?" the little blue exceed innocently asked. Throughout Alistair's monologue, Natsu had remained resolute to hear his nakama out, Happy too. And whilst the pair of them may not have totally understood what Alistair was saying, they were willing to heed his wishes.

"Like now, Happy. Someday I'll be able to open up about my inner demons to you all, just not for the time being. So can you guys just wait, until that time comes?" Alistair sent the pistol back to its pocket dimension, he was still irritated by Natsu and Happy's breaking and entering, but he could feel the sadness welling up inside of him, overcoming that anger he'd previously been feeling. Natsu looked Alistair dead in the eye for a brief moment, peering into the mechanisms of the man that had come to be known as the Fairy Machine.

"You can be sure we'll wait for you Alistair. We're your nakama after all, and if that's what you want us to do to help, that's what we'll do." The Salamander shot one of his goofy grins at Alistair before he spoke to Happy. "OK, Happy, let's go back to the guild and let everyone know."

Happy merely responded with his trademark saying. "Aye!"

Once he was sure the dragon slayer and exceed pair had left his home and were comfortably out of earshot, Alistair just sat back against the nearest cabinet, covering his face with his hands as tears began to uncontrollably fall from his eyes. Several self-deprecating and depressive thoughts crossed his mind as well as painful memories of similar past mistakes flashed before his eyes.

Unbeknownst to Alistair, Natsu and Happy hadn't actually moved out of earshot of Alistair's house just yet. Instead, they were outside opposite his front door, just by the canal's side relaying their information to Lucy.

The Celestial Spirit mage had been more concerned than any of the other guild members over the past week because she had seen Alistair breakdown after coming into physical contact with the Joker along with the fact she knew from firsthand experience what the Arc of Embodiment mage must've been going through.

And as Natsu and Happy had noticed all weak that Lucy was extra-concerned, they'd suggested that they all go cheer Alistair up, or at the very least get to the bottom of their companion's inner turmoil. None of them had expected this to be the outcome.

Just knowing that one of their own was on his own crying his eyes out was heartbreaking and enraging for the three Fairy Tail mages. But they knew that if Alistair wanted to be on his own, he'd appreciate it more if they allowed him to wallow in his own sorrow more than if they barged their way back in to comfort him.


	3. Chapter 3

A couple of days after Natsu's breaking and entering shenanigans, Lucy had taken a somewhat simple job at a care home near Era. After completing it and collecting the commission money instead of heading back directly to Magnolia, the blonde mage headed to one of Era's maximum security prisons.

This was the real reason for her venture as far out as the Council's Fiore branch. She was going to confront the Joker about what he'd done to Alistair and the effect the clown mage's fear magic was having on her nakama.

Lucy sat opposed a clear reinforced Perspex screen, waiting for the dark mage to be escorted into the opposing seat. Despite having fought against some of the most powerful dark mages on the continent, amongst them Master Hades, she was nervous of once again coming face to face with the Joker.

Two armed guards entered the room, followed by the Joker, and then two more armed guards behind him. Despite being imprisoned, the Joker's clown make-up hadn't been removed, nor had the green dye in his hair either. All four limbs were chained together with magic seal stone, loose enough for him to walk normally, but tight enough that he couldn't part his hands by more than a foot's length.

The inmate merely looked bored, but his face lit up when he saw who his visitor was. Taking his seat, the fear magic user leaned forward toward the Perspex screen between himself and Lucy.

"Well, well, well, to what do I owe the pleasure Blondie? Did you wanna hear how I got these? You know, before your boyfriend so rudely 'cut' me off." He motioned to the unsettling scars adorning each cheek.

His unnerving manner of speaking sent uncomfortable shivers done Lucy's spine, but it did not deter her from doing what it was she'd set out to do. Taking a soothing breathe, she began to speak.

"I want to know the ins and outs of your magic. Every. Last. Bit." Those last three words came out far more sinisterly than she'd intended, but one of her nakama was depending on this information. The response she was met with didn't instill much confidence.

The Joker burst out into hysterical laughter, giggling uncontrollably as if he'd just been told the funniest joke in history.

"I'm not… I'm not going to tell you… how my magic works!" He breathed between fits of laughter.

"After all, what would be in it for me? Letting you, and basically everyone, know the ups and downs of my power? No, no, no, that's not happening." The dark mage reasoned after calming down somewhat. Lucy could feel a slight well of anger surge through her having heard the Joker's dismissal of her demand.

"What's in it for you?" the Celestial Spirit mage's voice turned darker than she thought she was capable of doing. "How about not having my entire guild coming in and busting your every bone?" a dark frown covered Lucy's features as she said that. The Joker once again erupted in a fit of laughter.

"You have nothing, nothing to lever over me! But I'll tell you one thing sweetheart." The Joker leaned his face right up close to the Perspex barrier as if he was about to share a big secret with Lucy, it was almost like a kid had the juiciest gossip in the school that they were about to share with their best friend. "Your, boy toy or 'nakama' or whatever the hell he is to you, isn't under the influence of my magic anymore."

Lucy was taken aback by this, of course there was a niggling doubt that the Joker was being truthful, but what if he was? What if Alistair was no longer under the effect of the Joker's magic? Why was he being so distant from the guild now?

She didn't know what to do about this now, if what the Joker was saying was true then she was totally confused by Alistair's actions over the past week. There was nothing else for it now; Lucy was going to confront Alistair about it. Of that at least, she was certain.


	4. Chapter 4

At the same time as Lucy was heading back to Magnolia, Alistair was beginning to come out of his mental low. Over the past couple of days he'd actually started taking care of himself again and just spent them doing menial tasks that had needed doing. The redheaded mage still hadn't gone to the guild but as he at least been out and about so he'd crossed paths with two or three of his comrades.

He had at least acknowledged them, however he hadn't stopped long to get into in depth conversation. The Arc of Embodiment mage wanted them to know that he was at least somewhat better.

It was beginning to get late and as per usual Alistair hadn't planned ahead for dinner. He was returning from the local market with a bag full of groceries to proper a little something for himself that would likely last for two meals.

On the way back from the market, Alistair had to pass the train station in order to get back to his house. As he passed the station, Lucy emerged from the main entrance, noting the mop of red hair that belonged to Alistair walking past.

The blonde was somewhat surprised to see her friend out and about. Regardless, she had an agenda in mind and she was going to get to the bottom of it. She chased after her guildmate. When she got close to him he didn't even pay her any heed, as he was totally focussed on where he was going. It was only when Alistair went to cross a bridge did he finally notice Lucy was behind him.

"Oh hey Luce, I didn't see you there." Lucy took note that Alistair's voice possessed an obvious tone of disinterest and upset. She frowned at this.

"Are you still feeling the effects of that guy's magic, Ali?" Lucy looked directly into Alistair's eyes. What she saw was a look of surprise, and possibly a glint of hurt. She looked away; a sullen look crossed her pretty features. "I see…"

Alistair let out a long sigh as he began to piece his next sentence together.

"It's… complicated. Come on, come back to mine and have something to eat and we can talk about this."

Back at Alistair's home, he was in the middle of prepping a large casserole type dish for Lucy and himself. Lucy was sat on a breakfast stool, her chin on the palm of her right hand. The walk back from the canal bridge to Alistair's had been another silent one, not a thing said between the pair. There had only been awkward small talk between the two as Alistair cooked and Lucy watched.

As he stirred the simmering food he spoke up. "How'd you work it out then?" He didn't even look up from the pan as he spoke. Lucy looked up at him, not sure if she hadn't imagined it.

"I visited the Joker at Era after a job. He's the one who told me that you weren't still being affected."

"He's partly right,"

Lucy looked at Alistair with a confused expression. She didn't quite understand by what he meant by 'partly right'.

"I suffer from moderate depression, which I thought I'd sorted out. That was until after casting Cancel,"

"You tried it again?" Lucy asked because during the foiled heist, Alistair had cast his cancel spell over the bank so that the Joker's couldn't simply use his fear magic the same way he'd done so in previous heists. The dark mage would cast a spell of some sorts that meant as soon as he entered a building, people were overwhelmed by the bombardment of deeply rooted negative thoughts. It was by doing this that he was able to steal so much money without firing a shot in anger.

Alistair's cancel spell was a part of a mind altering magic that he'd developed in combination with his Arc of Embodiment. Several spells were developed, one that allowed Alistair to give a person a single order in defiance with their will, and another that allowed him to implant a part of his mind unto someone else. Cancel, as its name suggests, was a spell that dispelled, as well as undoes any mind altering magic cast on a person or group of people within its range of effect. Alistair then began to explain what had happened between him beating the Joker and breaking the clown mage's spell.

During Lucy's plan, the cancel spell worked perfectly when the Joker entered the bank, but for reasons currently unknown coming into contact physical contact with the Joker had the same effect as his usual entry spell just with the added effect that dispelling type spells didn't seem to work against it.

At least that's what Alistair had originally feared. Three days after though, whilst still under its effects he'd tried for what must have been the 28th time and for whatever reason, it actually worked that time.

"Whilst I was no longer under the effects of the fear magic, the damage had already been done. The memories it had brought back to the surface were enough to put me into a deep low. The deepest I feel I've ever suffered." Alistair knew that in the year after Makarov had disbanded the guild Lucy had fallen into a moderate depression also, something which she'd opened up to the redhead about, so he knew that she understood what he meant.

"I basically started feeling little else than sadness all the time, I slept for most of each day and when I wasn't asleep I just felt exhausted despite having had fourteen plus hours of sleep. Eating was out of the question as my appetite just up and left. Then there was the feeling of worthlessness…

"That seemingly unending feeling that no matter what you could've done in those dark memories everything would've just come out the same or worse. Where you just have to get all the sadness out but there just isn't an outlet for it, so it just grows and grows like a cancer with no signs of stopping."

Lucy could see that just describing his emotions was tough on him, he was shaking all over and his voice was straining too. She stood up, walking behind him to give him a warm embrace. The feeling of another person wrapping their arms around someone was one of the most comforting gestures that anyone suffering from depression could be given, regardless of if it was from someone they didn't know or even by someone they didn't like that much in some instances.

"Ali, you never thought of ending it all? Did you?" The concern in Lucy's voice was overt. It was a question she didn't want to ask for fear of what her friend's answer could be.

"That was always the point where I briefly saw sense. The point where I'd say to myself, 'Alistair, don't be so stupid. You know better than most it's more than possible to get through this.' And then it would just start over from the beginning again, just like a vicious circle with no means of escape." A sea of relief washed over Lucy hearing those words. Yes, Alistair would remain in his depression, but at the very least he wasn't so far gone that he'd try and commit suicide because of it. "Part of the problem is pride." The redhead stated flatly.

Lucy looked up at him questioningly. She could see over his shoulder that his eyes were once again puffy with tear streaks visible on his cheeks. The Celestial Spirit mage could tell by the way her friend was breathing, as well as how his lips were erratically quivering that he was holding onto the pent up emotions, refusing to let them out, to not let her see him in a supposed state of weakness, or himself.

"I'm so goddamn prideful that I can't just allow myself to cry, when it should be so simple." He rubbed his eyes with his arm as he spoke. "Even though I know it'll help, if only slightly, I can't bring myself to let it all out!" Both of his hands slammed on the kitchen bench either side of the hob he was using. The sudden outburst broke the embrace Lucy had been giving him, causing her to jump back almost in fright. The Arc of Embodiment mage slumped over the bench to the right of the hob, propping his head up with his left hand, his right resting on his left bicep.

He didn't want Lucy to see him like this, and at the same time Lucy didn't want to see Alistair like this either. Seeing anyone in such a state was painful, a close friend in this sort of state was plain horrific though. Lucy didn't know what to do really, so she did the only thing she could think of that might have at least some impact. She leaned next to Alistair and proceeded to gently stroke his back in a slow up and down motion.

"I feel so pathetic… Erza lost her eye as a child slave for Christ' sake, Juvia'd never seen the sun as a kid, Gray's parents were killed by a demon only for another one to resurrect his father for their own experiments, you lost your beloved mother when you were only nine before all that shit with Phantom and your Father happened. Look at you all, totally able to at the very least put all of it behind you and carry on with your daily lives.

"I can't even do that, and for what? Something as insignificant as having troubled time at school as a kid…"

She knew what Alistair was trying to say, hell she'd felt the same way sometimes in the year after the war with Tartaros. But there was no point in belittling whatever the problem was as it only made everything worse for the individual suffering.

Everyone had a breaking point which was different from person to person as well as being broken in different ways, again dependent on the individual. Lucy couldn't help but feel that Alistair was close to, if not beyond, his breaking point.

"Lucy, I'm sorry to have burdened you with all of this. It's completely unfair of me to do this to you,"

"Don't be so silly Ali, I'm your friend! Everyone at the guild is. If you can't open up to us, then who can you open up to? Natsu and you helped me cope with the loss of my father, and you helped me with the disbanding of the guild. It's my turn to help you cope with this."

Alistair could hear the resolution in Lucy's voice. Whilst he wasn't looking at her, he could just picture the conviction she currently held in her eyes. A small, barely audible chuckle escaped his lips.

"Thanks Luce, that means a lot." After saying this, he stood tall again, looking Lucy dead in the eye. "Right, that looks done to me. Go sit back down so I can plate it up." Alistair grinned, causing Lucy to smile radiantly agreeing to the request.

An hour later both Fairy Tail mages stretched back, empty bowls in front of them, stomachs full with delicious food. Lucy leant back forward with a subtle curious look on her face as Alistair continued stretching, twisting his back, making several cracking noises as he did so. The sound caused the blonde Celestial Spirit mage to wince in pained disapproval.

"That casserole thing of yours was delightful. That cracking noise however,"

"Sorry, just needed to loosen up a bit." Alistair replied sheepishly. The delicate smile on Lucy's face turned subjugated along with the mood.

"I know you said to Natsu that people with depression don't like being asked about what's causing them to be the way they are, however, do you think you'd be willing to talk to me about it?" The look Alistair was giving to Lucy indicated that he wasn't willing to humour her request at that exact moment in time. His answer however somewhat betrayed the look of incredulity across his face.

"Tell you what, come back tomorrow – about half eleven – and I'll take you to the very place that brought this wretched illness down on me."

Lucy sensed a rare vigour in Alistair's words that was underlain with a torrent of venom laced into it, a torrent that specifically began as a strong current under the word 'place'. Whatever this place was, Lucy could tell that the terms 'animosity' or 'hatred' couldn't even begin to cover how intensely Alistair disliked this place.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, Lucy made her way to Alistair's place for roughly the agreed time. Alistair had done the gentlemanly thing last night by walking her back to her rented apartment.

During her walk back to his house today though she'd been hypothesising and theorizing about the place Alistair had mentioned last night. After going back through all the information from last night she'd worked out that this place was his old school. So how was Alistair going to take her to it?

Alistair wasn't a native of Fiore or even Earthland. Furthermore, no one was entirely sure how he'd arrived in Magnolia in the first place, in which that list of people who didn't know included himself.

The blonde Celestial Spirit mage realised that she must've been walking on autopilot whilst she was so deep in her thoughts as she'd realised just how close to her guildmate's house she was.

Knocking on the door she was quickly let in. In the daylight and without the awkward silence that had occurred last night, Lucy was finally able to get a good look at Alistair's house. The hallway had bare walls with the exception of a single mirror between two doors. The first door lead to the dining area, the second lead to the kitchen. Both of which were linked together as a single open air room.

At the end of the hall was a single cloakroom where the toilet was, to the right of that room was an indoor dock that was linked to one of Magnolia's numerous canals. The hallway was shaped like an upside down 'L', where the top was the front door. Lucy knew that there was a garage based off of the front of the house, so she couldn't quite work out how to actually get in it.

Before she could try and work it out, Alistair showed her into the kitchen where he started boiling some water for himself and Lucy.

"Would you like anything Luce? Tea? Coffee? Hot chocolate?"

"I'll have a hot chocolate Ali, thank you."

"Feel free to have a look around the house," Alistair mentioned as he buried his head in making the two drinks for himself and his guest.

Lucy took that as her queue to have a wonder round, venturing upstairs via the staircase at the far end of the kitchen. On the upper level there wasn't much except a lounge area that had a south facing balcony which looked onto the canal along with having a decent view of Magnolia on the whole. Elsewhere on the upper floor were a grandiose bathroom and two bedrooms. Lucy assumed that one was Alistair's and the other a spare.

After Alistair came to find her, handing her drink to her. Throughout the house Lucy had noticed that there were barely any decorative pieces or anything that one might consider to be of sentimental value. When she asked him about it, his response was surprising.

"Why would I? I have my friends at the guild. There's no need for sentimental objects."

Walking back downstairs Alistair asked Lucy about the latest goings on at the guild he'd missed. As the two sipped their hot chocolates they just had a conversation, ignoring the reason why'd they met up for, for the time being. Lucy would tell Alistair about some of the gossip going around the guild along with some of the hilarious goings on; like how Happy'd dared Natsu to dive into a glass of water, using transformation magic on the decent to turn into a small enough fish to land, only for it to go horribly wrong because the fire dragon slayer somehow transformed into a tuna and landed on Gray who hadn't been aware of the pair's antics.

Throughout the conversation Alistair would laugh a hearty laugh if Lucy told him unbelievable or would stay quiet nodding in agreement, only interrupting if he felt something had to be said. The pair continued this for what easily felt as little as ten minutes when in fact it had been going on for nearly two hours.

As the pair finished their respective mugs of hot chocolate Alistair went about washing the mugs out whilst suggesting that Lucy go powder her nose in the upstairs bathroom before they set off. After the mugs were washed out, Alistair went to relieve himself also in the downstairs cloakroom. The pair met up in the hall way before stepping into the dock.

Sat in the dock was a 33 foot long motorized yacht. The hull was painted in a metallic black colour that beautifully reflected the light glinting off of the water; the prow was a well oiled dark wood, possibly birch Lucy guessed, that swooped along the flanks to the wind shield, curving around to meet once again behind the open air bridge. Said bridge was clad in whitish cream leather upholstery whilst the controls were finished in a black glossed varnish of some sort.

"Like it?" Lucy was brought back to reality as Alistair enquired if the obvious was true.

"Yeah, it's a gorgeous boat. How long is it?"

"About 10.7 meters, it's got two engines and if it was a real one from my home, it'd cost you about 7.7 million jewels." Lucy's eyes almost bugged out of her head when she heard the figure this elegant but still simplistic looking-yacht would cost. "Arc of Embodiment comes in handy for indulging one's fantasies." Alistair stated matter-of-factly. Lucy looked about the yacht some more before she and Alistair headed down the stairs that were located directly opposite the door to the room, parallel to the actual dock. The mystery way to the garage as Lucy noted.

There was a single dead end corridor parallel to the stairs with a single door to the left that lead into the garage.

Entering it Lucy was greeted by a collection of, what to her; were some of the most extravagant and bizarre magic four-wheelers and two-wheelers she'd ever seen. The tallest one amongst the collection even had six wheels!

In total Lucy counted up five two wheelers, nine four wheelers and the solitary six wheeler, none of which looked like any magic wheelers she'd ever seen. Not in Fiore, nor in Alvarez. None of them had open cockpits or separate cabins, rather enclosed cockpits and cabins merged into one with no SE plugs apparent.

The two wheelers though looked fairly standard by comparison, only missing the SE plugs again. Lucy looked at the tallest two-wheeler closely. The front fender that made up the body work was black chrome, with a metallic green trellis frame visible. There was only a single swing-arm for the rear wheel along with an angular box-like exhaust. The blonde noticed that because the way the seat was sculpted and had two side cushions that would sit next to the rider's waist that only a single person could ride it.

"You can sit on them if you want. I can even make you a set of riding leathers for it if you want?" Alistair asked. Lucy looked at the redhead sheepishly before hoisting her right leg over the angular, bulky looking vehicle. She took a hold of the handlebars as she sat on the seat, twisting the throttle in her right hand once she was in a comfortable position. "Like it?"

"Uh-huh, but I get the feeling this might be a bit much for me," Lucy quietly answered with a sheepish tone.

"If you've never ridden a motorbike before then all five of these would be too much for you. 200HP is far too much for a new rider to handle." As Alistair said this, Lucy could see that his hands were radiating a small amount of magic. "You want a set of riding leathers?" Lucy pondered it briefly, not entirely sure what 'riding leathers' were. Every time she'd seen a magic motorbike, the riders were wearing normal looking clothes. Curiosity got the better of her however, as she nodded her head in approval.

"Ok then," Alistair directed for Lucy to hold her golden locks up away from her neck so that he could start. He began by tracing his right index finger around her neck, the light touch sent shivers down her spine as he did this. Alistair ignored this because he was focusing on doing the job properly. Next he asked her to hold out her arms, she complied by taking a hold of the handlebars again. The redhead mage stepped in front of the bike so he could do this part of the job properly. He traced both his index fingers around Lucy's wrists; totally circling around them meeting at the point he'd started at on the inside of her wrists.

After this, Alistair asked Lucy to get off the bike so he could complete the first stage. Using her thigh-high boots as a guideline, the Arc of Embodiment mage traced his index fingers from in between her legs, around the bottom of Lucy's calf muscles, working his way out, around and back in to where he started. In order for the suit to be created properly Lucy was asked to step out of her boots, which she happily complied with.

Now stood behind his barefoot friend, Alistair placed both hands on Lucy's bare back, where he preceded to poor that small pool of magic onto her skin. From there black leather rippled out from his palms, cascading down her back, her sides, moving around to her front flowing downwards as it did so. As the leather material that crept up her back to her neck Lucy felt another shiver go down her spine, she even let out a slight moan as the material ceased to proceed beyond the imaginary ring Alistair had drawn around her neck. The same thing happened at her wrists and calf muscles, once the material reached the imaginary rings Alistair had drawn on them, the material ceased to flow.

Green piping around the five rings formed, similar in colour to the trellis frame on the bike she'd been sat on. Two more leather pipes formed down her front, starting at her neck before finishing at the bottom of the legs, the same thing happened on her back too.

At that point Lucy thought it was finished, but oh no. After voicing her thought that it was complete Alistair asked her how she was going to get out of it if it was finished. Looking slightly perplexed Lucy started to tug around the ends of the suit trying to get some leeway for her to slip out of it. When she realised it was impossible for her to do so she sighed in defeat.

With an orange aura emanating around his right index finger, Alistair started to once again trace outlines around the suit. He drew around Lucy's shoulders, her elbows, her knees, twice on her back – once creating a rhomboidal like shape from the top of her neck to the base of her spine, and a second time creating a triangle from where her shoulders met her neck, the longest point tapering off midway down the centre of her back.

Alistair ceased his 'drawings', taking a step back, orange auras encompassing both of his hands that he held out at his sides. It was at that point that Lucy could feel padding on the inside of the suit forming around the areas he'd drawn on but formed tough, plastic-like plates on the outside of it. The only exception being the triangle on her back which bulged out somewhat. When she again tried to take it off Alistair tutted at her, for there was two things left for him to add.

He drew an elongated half circle on the front of her neck which became a button up strap for the suit which he undid, giving Lucy a little breathing space for her neck.

"Ok, last bit. You… might have to… guide… me with this." Now that Alistair was almost done, he wasn't concentrating as much as he had been to begin with so his mind had just reminded him of what was between him and getting Lucy out of the suit; the front zipper, which started underneath the buttoning collar and finished at her navel. In order for him to do it correctly, Alistair would have to draw a line straight down her front, which included her very impressive bosom.

The flush on Lucy's face when Alistair informed her of what he had to do to finish it rivalled the colour of Erza's hair. It was a deep shade of scarlet. Likewise, Alistair's face was equally flushed as he'd not only made it look like he'd purposefully put Lucy in this position, but he was also well aware of the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra.

Alistair placed his index finger at the starting point for the zip and zipper, letting Lucy take a hold of his hand and just simply allowed her to glide his finger down her now leather-clad front stopping just below her navel. The zip and zipper subsequently formed without any accidental groping or poking issues occurring, much to the relief of both participants.

Now with the suit complete, Lucy was free to give it a proper look. Despite leather's reputation for being extremely form-fitting and tight, Lucy was pleasantly surprised that whilst it was form-fitting to a certain extent it was comfortably snug and not so skin tight that it left little to the imagination. Despite this she still felt sexy wearing it.

Alistair produced a mirror with his magic for Lucy to pose in front of. The black with green trim may not have been her first choice but she had a sneaking suspicion that if she asked Alistair could change the colouring design for her.

"It looks good on you Luce. It's not totally finished, I'll have to make a pair of boots and gloves as well as a helmet for you to complete the look." The compliment certainly boosted Lucy's confidence, and whilst she'd never ridden a motorcycle before in her life, she certainly felt like she could take on Earthland's best whilst wearing this set of leathers.

After she was prompted to put her boots back on, Lucy sat on the large black sports bike again, feeling even more comfortable on it as a result. Whilst she would never voluntarily go back to glamour modelling, she could totally see herself doing photo-shoots like this in future if the pay was right.

A couple of minutes later Lucy got off the bike, which she learned was something called a 'Kawasaki Ninja H2'. The name was meaningless to her but she made a mental note to one day learn to ride and eventually have a go on it. She undid the button collar along with the zip, and after a bit of a struggle, even with Alistair's help, she was out of his creation.

Looking at the time, Alistair realised that it was probably about time the pair got going. He carefully placed Lucy's new race suit over the H2 before he headed towards the metallic orange magic four-wheeler that was sat directly opposite the ramp up to the garage doors.

Even whilst on the H2, Lucy had taken cursory glances towards it. It was very low, not only in terms of height but also in how low to the ground it was. The whole vehicle was angular from wherever you looked at it. Still, in its current company of wonderfully exotic looking four-wheelers, this one looked particularly special. Two large air intakes were proudly adorned at the front, both of which were connected by a black front splitter. Above the centre of the splitter, sat proudly on the nose was a yellow gold bordered black shield, in the centre of which was a single gold fighting bull. Sat above the bull was a single word, also in gold; Lamborghini.

Around each side of the vehicle were two more air intake vents, an obvious one on the sill behind the door, the other concealed behind the upper bodywork. At the back of the vehicle there was a single window that had three angular sheets of glass positioned perpendicularly to the window into the cockpit. Below the three sheets of vented glass Lucy could peer into something. She didn't really know what it was, but guessing by how prominently on display it was; it was clearly important.

Unbeknownst to Lucy, she was staring directly into the engine bay of the car. A black, carbon fibre cross-member sat above the engine cover itself. Upon the bottom of the cover a hexagonal steel plaque could be seen embossed within the cover. The plaque simply had written on it; V12.

On the exterior of the car, Lucy took note of the much larger metallic mesh grills either side of the rear of the car. Below these two vents was a collection of carbon-fibre grooves that must've served some physical purpose. Nestled in the centre of the grooves was a single, metallic, hexagonal exhaust pipe of which Lucy could see inside where four smaller box like exhausts.

Between the largest vents and the top of the rear deck were the light clusters in elongated hexagons, the rear lights being stylized into three horizontal 'Y's within the clusters. In between the two light clusters was a single panel, on which in silver metal was the word 'Lamborghini' again.

Lucy wasn't 100% sure, but she had a feeling this magic four-wheeler was a Lamborghini.

Whilst Lucy was looking the Lamborghini over, Alistair had sat in it and decided to fire it up. In an instant the engine roared into life before it relaxed into a mere burble. Lucy looked through the passenger side window at him questioningly. As he began to repeatedly stab the throttle she had to cover her ears for how loud it was in conjunction with the echo within the garage.

Taking a step back Lucy could even see a spit of flame bursting out from the exhaust at the rear a foot and a half long. Even with her ears covered she could still tell how the car would initially start as a burble that turned into growl which morphed into an almighty howl when Alistair stabbed the throttle hard.

Seeing that Lucy had to cover her pained ears, Alistair shut the engine off, stepping out afterwards. It was only then that Lucy realised the doors opened up wards in a scissor fashion. Was there '''anything''' normal about this thing?

Alistair walked round the rear of the car, noticing the black scorch marks on the skirting bored from the flames spewed out the exhaust. After sweat-dropping at the result of his exuberance, he opened the passenger door for Lucy, explaining to her how to get in to the low slung coupe.

"There's two ways to get in something like this; the undignified way where you have to crawl on your hands and knees to get in or there's the proper way. Open the door up, then park your arse on the door sill," Lucy huffed at the crass manner Alistair explained it; she complied with the instruction though, sitting on the surprisingly wide sill. She noticed the word 'Aventador' written on a plaque similar to the one she'd seen on the engine. "Now, slide back onto the seat base – careful not to bash your head on the door frame – and when you're comfortable, lift both legs up and swivel them into the foot well so you're facing out the windscreen." Lucy could now see why getting into this thing would cause problems for some people, she'd had a light blush dusting her cheeks when she realised how exposed she was whilst wearing a skirt.

Lucy was slightly surprised when Alistair poked his head into the cabin, pulling out the seatbelt, passing it over her chest and waist. The blonde mage lent backwards, hands up so as not to obstruct her friend. Once the buckle had clicked into place Alistair closed the door before getting into the driver's seat.

Once again Alistair thumbed the starter button in the centre of the dashboard. Now that Lucy was inside the car she realised it was much quieter, probably as a cross between being in front of the engine as well as being sat within the vehicle.

Putting the car into gear, Alistair pressed a button at the bottom of the dashboard. Lucy could feel the front of the car lift up slightly as it pulled away. After pulling out the garage they turned left before traversing over a canal bridge, turning right at the end. The pair ventured up the hill that sat at the most southern point of Magnolia, once up it the car darted down a south eastern road that had been more or less finished in the year after Tartaros destroyed the city.

"What kind of magic four-wheeler is this? It's completely different from all the others."

"We don't use the term four wheeler 'round my neck of the woods. We just call them cars, and even then this one is a standout from the norm." Lucy was somewhat in awe of this car because of how different it was from what she was used to, just the fact it had a fully enclosed cockpit, two purpose made seats and a steering wheel rather than a joystick.

"They're also not powered by magic either, they can be powered by a number of different fuels; petrol, diesel, electricity and hydrogen to name a few. A hundred odd years before I was born some were steam powered. Before I ended up here some were powered by a combination of either petrol or diesel and electricity."

Alistair then admitted to Lucy that he was somewhat of a car-bore. He had a self confessed extensive knowledge of all things automotive but because it was such a geeky subject it wasn't one he got to talk about often, and even when he did he was always worried about boring the other person to sleep.

"This car, if it was on sale in Fiore today, would cost about four million jewels." Alistair informed Lucy. That was 133 times her monthly rent! Not long after, the pair became quiet. Alistair concentrated on driving whilst Lucy watched as the world passed by her window.

This went on for a few miles before Lucy broke the silence. "You know Ali, for all the noise and pomp surrounding this car, it doesn't seem that fast." No sooner had that last part left Lucy's lips had Alistair stood the car on its nose bringing it to a complete halt.

"Oh really?" the redhead asked with a cocky smirk. Delving into his pocket then conjuring something up in his hand, he leant over to Lucy's side of the cabin placing whatever he'd pulled out his pocket onto the thing he'd conjured up where he preceded to stick it to the dashboard above the glove box. "Then let's play a game, shall we?" As Alistair said this, he pressed a button on the centre console above the starter button. The button he pressed had an arrow pointing towards the driver; on the opposing side was another one that pointed at the passenger side. In between the two buttons where three words; 'Strada', 'Sport', and 'Corsa', the latter most now lit up red.

Alistair then pressed a toggle switch down, second from the left amongst a row that lined the length underneath a screen that took up a third of the dashboard above the central console. He then pulled the right paddle furthest away from Lucy behind the steering wheel. She couldn't see the next bit but Alistair had his left foot on the brake pedal, a message popped up on the digital tachometer; 'Thrust mode possible.'

"That there is a 5000 {{J}} note on the dashboard. You're going to count down from three, and on go; you have until I've pulled this paddle six times to pull that note off. If you do, you win and can keep it. It's only stuck on with blu-tack so it's not difficult to pull off." At the very mention of money and the prospect of winning said amount, Lucy grew a confident smirk. The rules were simple, the task didn't sound that hard, she'd win this easily and take the 5000 {{J}} for herself.

"Alright, you're on!"

Alistair had a quick glance in the mirrors and looked ahead to make sure what he was about to do was as safe as possible. When it became clear it was, he started to build the revs up till they hit the magic 5000rpm where the car held it.

"Ok Luce, ready when you are."

Lucy was sat comfortably in her seat, not dead against the seat back. How hard could it be to peel a note off a dashboard?

"In three…! Two…! One…! GoooOOOOOOO-Waaaahaha!" As soon as the word 'go' left her lips Lucy was pushed back into her seat by the shear accelerative force. By the time she'd realised she hadn't even so much as got her fingertips to the note Alistair had already pulled the gear paddle twice, and with each swap of the cogs it became harder and harder for her to pull forward from her seat.

Despite being determined not to lose, she couldn't help but laugh each time she got closer to pulling it off just to be thrown back in her seat when Alistair pulled the paddle again.

"Only one more to go Lucy!"

She hadn't realised just how loud the noise reverberating through the cabin was until Alistair had to shout to her in order for her to hear him. Even inside the cabin the Celestial Spirit mage could now hear just how loud the howl of the engine was. She couldn't begin to imagine how loud it was from the outside.

"Ooooooooooh! Ohhh! There we go Lucy! Seventh gear! Better luck next time." Alistair let off the gas a tad, according to the digital speedometer nestled within the tachometer they were covering ground at a monstrously fast 205mph. The road was straight for many tens of miles so Alistair knew there was no need to slow the car down too much, but 200+ miles an hour was way too excessive.

Even whilst concentrating Alistair could see out the corner of his eye that Lucy was pouting over not being able to win their little game. Just to be a good sport, Alistair let Lucy have another few goes, each time clocking over 200mph. Before the fourth go he made a point of saying that it would be Lucy's last opportunity as he didn't want to tire himself out too much before getting to where they were going.

"I did it!" Lucy cried victoriously as she was thrown back into her seat, arms above her head clutching the 5000 {{J}} . She'd only just managed it before Alistair changed up into seventh.

"Aaaaay! Well done Lucy!"

From then on Alistair settled on a cruising speed of 120mph, resettling back into a relaxed rhythm. It was only when he stopped at a lake that was regarded as a natural beauty spot that he saw Lucy had fallen asleep.

Lucy came to when it dawned on her in her sleep that she was no longer moving. Sitting up properly she could see a figure sat on a picnic bench out the windscreen. Looking around she could see Alistair was no longer sat next to her and that a blanket had appeared out of nowhere, covering her whilst she slept.

Stepping out of the Lamborghini into the cool afternoon air, clutching the blanket to her chest, Lucy slowly walked over to the figure on the picnic table. It was Alistair starring out over the horizon where the sun reflected brilliantly off of the water's edge. The look on his face was a stern one, but no matter how hard he tried to disguise the fact he was nervous, his eyes betrayed him. Contemplation of the past could be seen in his dark blue orbs.

"Hey, are you alright?" Lucy asked solemnly. Alistair looked over his shoulder to see Lucy stood next to him. He gave her a small smile before his demure look returned. He sighed before answering his friend.

"Yeah, I suppose I'm as alright as one can be when they're about to confront their past,"

Lucy stepped up on the bench to sit on the table itself next to Alistair, placing her right hand on his left. She leaned against his arm, head against his shoulder. Her eyes were looking downwards with a solemn vigour as she thoughtfully pieced her next sentence together.

"I know how it must feel for you Ali. I was the same after we came back from Tenrou Island. When I went to see my father's grave, a tempest of emotions broiled inside me. Everything from sadness, anger, and even hatred too over everything he'd done in my life. And yet, at the same time I felt those emotions; sadness and anger for different reasons I hadn't expected to feel them for. I was angry at him for not waiting for me to come back from Tenrou Island and sad at the same time because I didn't get to say goodbye to him,

"I know that what you're going through isn't quite the same, but I'm here for you Ali. Once you've confronted your demons head on, you'll come out of it all the stronger." Lucy was surprised when Alistair's other arm gently came to rest on her left bicep.

"I'll get through this, no matter what." The nervous that had previously occupied Alistair's eyes had been replaced by one that Lucy was much more used to seeing from them; determination. Only this determination wasn't the fierce kind which Alistair always seemed to have when confronting a powerful enemy. This was a steely determination to get better. "For you Lucy, and for everyone at the guild, I swear I'll get through this!"


	6. Chapter 6

Just over half an hour later from the Fairy Tail pair's break, they were rapidly approaching their destination. The road had begun to bend and in some places start switchback down hillsides toward sea level. With the increase of corners, Alistair's driving had become much more focused; he hadn't said a word, rather scanning the road ahead to anticipate the braking points for the numerous corners up ahead.

The way in which the big Lamborghini almost fluttered through the corners was unnerving yet exhilarating to Lucy. She was terrified for her life but at the same time wanting to squeal in delight as Alistair flicked the car seemingly effortlessly through fast sweeping bends, rapid chicanes all the way to low speed, low gear hairpin turns.

On one of these hairpins, Alistair had applied a slightly overzealous amount of throttle that had the rear end step out of line. Looking in the inside mirror through her window, Lucy could see billows of white smoke wafting into the air as she heard an ear piercing shriek at the same time. At the same time, she noticed how Alistair had gone from an armful of leftward lock on the steering wheel to a couple armfuls of opposite lock. Everything Lucy had just experienced had happened within a few seconds, but her sense of time had rapidly slowed down. It allowed her to take in everything there was to feel, from a passenger side view, of what a power slide felt like.

For the next mile and a half, Lucy was bolted to her seat, grabbing onto anything she could, as Alistair went from full attack precision driving to daft sliding and drifting around all manner of corners.

When the roads began to level out once more, Alistair's driving became much more sedate. Lucy took this as an indication that they were getting close to their destination. The blonde mage became especially attentive when the car slowed down to what felt like a total crawl before it made a 90 degree right handed corner.

The manner in which Alistair took the corner was totally different to how he'd taken them up in switchbacks, it was much more careful and seemingly thought out, considerate even. As Lucy looked out the windshield she could see houses dotting the sides of the road. All of which had gardens out in the front with different varieties of plants, from blooming flowers to medium sized shrub bushes and even the odd tree in some cases. None of the houses matched any Fiore style from what Lucy could gather, and from her knowledge of where she was; there shouldn't be any kind of settlement there.

"Ali, where are we? There shouldn't be any houses out here,"

"This is a recreation of where I grew up. I built it on and off between jobs using my magic before we went to Tenrou Island. Sadly it's near one of the Face dystopias… so it probably won't last much longer."

The Face dystopias were areas where the Face devices had successfully managed to detonate during the Tartaros crisis. Small pockets of land dotted across Ishgar were no longer rich in ethernano in the air because of it. They were areas where the dragons had failed to reach in time, the statues themselves had since been destroyed, but the damage had already been done.

For the time being, the dystopias were devoid of human activity, but the Magic Council and the Royal Army were well aware that as Mages could no longer operate within those areas the possibility, and especially the likelihood, of non-mage criminal gangs beginning to relocate and operate out of those areas was considerably high.

And Alistair had partially constructed a settlement within a stone's throw away from one…

"I guess you're worried about bandits moving in, huh?" Lucy asked, downbeat at the prospect of what was honestly quite a pleasant looking area being overrun with bandits and other undesirables.

"The minute I learn of any bandits living in _my_ creation, I'll wipe it and them out."

The pair continued down the road, coming around what looked like a large fenced off recreation ground with a play ground concealed in the nearest corner when the car pulled up at a set of traffic lights. Alistair explained how traffic lights worked to Lucy, she was a little perplexed at the alien concept but astounded at the level of detail her partner had invested into this area.

Pulling away from the lights they made a right turn heading down what must've been a main road judging by how much wider it was than the one they'd just turned off of. It wasn't long before the big Lamborghini turned left off a gently dipping side road, climbing back up to be level with the main road. From there it was a simple matter of following the road for a couple of minutes, at the end of which was a small cross road.

Out of Lucy's window she could see what looked like an amalgamation of buildings larger than the surrounding ones, or any she'd seen so far, through the trees surrounding it. Alistair turned the corner so that they were now on the same road as the collection of buildings. The entry to the complex was flanked on both sides by hedges that easily stood over seven feet tall. Built into the hedge on Lucy's side was a large sign with the name of the compound and its logo. The way in which Alistair drove through the gates meant Lucy couldn't get a clear view of it.

Now inside the compound, Lucy could see that it wasn't multiple buildings but in fact just one large one that was longest along its axis parallel to the road. The level of detail from this small part of the building that Lucy could see was astonishing. Alistair had put a lot of effort into rebuilding this place. From the paint flaking on the decidedly older looking windows and structures, to the painted white lines, to the type of surface the road was made from.

The Lamborghini crept around the to the rear of the building, where there was a wide open space that had been tarmaced over, and beyond that, a large open green space that surrounded the tarmac on two sides. One of the grassy plains was devoid of anything except for six thin trees in the distance whilst the plain parallel to the building had two port-a-cabins at opposite corners of the tarmac.

Alistair parked the car up in the middle of the tarmac, equidistant from two wire fences that blocked off the parallel field and the other separated the large tarmac playing field from a narrower one next to the main building.

At the end of the smaller tarmac area was another building, it looked temporary like the two port-a-cabins but it was about twice the size and two stories instead. It had a concreted ramp up to the door, but the foundations looked to be a combination of wooden struts and corrugated steel. The walls too looked to be made of cheep steel and PVC.

The main building though looked far more, permanent. Bricks and mortar made up the majority of the building, with the furthermost section of the building being a completely different type of construct as it looked to be made up of glass, steel and plastics. Not only that, but the architecture was significantly different; where the brick part of the building was simply blocky with no curved surfaces, the steel fifth of the building was finished with a swooping, almost wave like, roof.

After shutting the engine off the Fairy Tail pair emerged from the metallic orange supercar, Lucy looked around in awe at the complex. Sure, it wasn't anywhere near as big as the Heartfilia estate she grew up on - seeing as how that was the size of a small town – nevertheless though; it was still impressive that Alistair had managed to make such a detailed structure.

Whilst Lucy was mildly stunned, Alistair on the other hand looked at his recreation with nothing but utter disdain. There was not one single thing or person he hated more than the place he'd recreated. Just being on the playground again made his blood boil, his heartbeat had quickened and his eyes sharpened on the surroundings. Even though he knew that it was just him and Lucy, Alistair couldn't bring himself to relax in this place.

"Do you finally want to tell me what this place is, and why it's made you so ill?" a bemused Lucy asked as she stepped around the back of the Lamborghini. Alistair looked at the main building, taking in as much of it as he dared.

"This is where I went to school; where I was _supposed_ to have been educated in how to be a responsible and knowledgeable individual. Instead all I was _educated_ in was how to be an arsehole to others, how to belittle every little thing about other people and how to get a laugh out of other people's suffering.

"The sort of place where if you weren't one of the popular kids, you were one of the victims of the relentless and endless bullying: To such an extent you'd make a suicide speech in a class and everyone – the teachers included – thought you were joking.

"The place where despite outright telling one of the assistant head teachers that I had depression they did nothing to help me get better and instead put me in environments that only made it worse, a place where it was more worried about its goddamn ''brilliant'' reputation than the welfare of those that were responsible for it earning its fucking prestigious reputation in the first place.

"A place that by law had to ensure the health of those in its care and it shirked that responsibility when it came to the mental health of its pupils. Even when it was confronted head on with the most compelling of evidence, it ignored it and only went on to make it worse." If words could take a physical form, the words Alistair spoke could've crushed a mountain with the shear hatred that they were spoken with. His right fist had clenched up so tightly that his knuckles were white and shaking extensively. Not only that, but his breathing had become deeper, much more aggressive.

"Hey, it's ok now Ali. It can't hurt you anymore. Those days of suffering are gone now; they're behind you." Lucy took a hold of his left hand and held it so it was level with her cheeks. "You have Fairy Tail now. Everyone at the guild has a past. But it's the bond we share in the here and now that helps us get through the dark days, to make sure those horrible times stay where they belong: In the past.

"We look forward to the future so that we can improve ourselves and each other. You just have to learn to trust us. We're your friends Ali, that means that your problems are **our** problems, just like how you've made our problems your own, just like how, you made **my** problems **your** problems."

Lucy pulled herself into Alistair, giving him a tender hug. His right fist opened up, flicking the anger and hatred that had boiled up inside away for the time being. He didn't want his rage imbued hand to sully the delicate compassion she had shown him.

It was silly, cliché even, but when Alistair reciprocated the hug he felt a warmth begin to stir within him, a gentle, kind warmth that contrasted with the tempest of searing rage and hatred that had been whirring around his mind. Even though he was stood in the centre of the very thing he despised, for that exact moment; he was the happiest he had been for a very long time.


	7. Chapter 7

As Lucy was being given an escorted tour around the school by Alistair's thought projection, the man himself was in the process of moving the car to the street they'd come up to get there. He'd left the Lamborghini at a drop off kerb, facing towards the way the way they had come and how they'd leave. From that kerb he began to walk back to the recreated school.

Every step felt painful, as if instead of walking to a meeting place; he was taking the one-way walk to the gallows. A part of him sincerely wanted to just get back in the Aventador and head back to Magnolia. Hell, even going to Vistarion seemed preferable by comparison. But he soldiered on instead.

Walking along the hedge row that had always seemed to act as a fence to keep the occupants in and hide what happened inside to the outside world, caused the odd memory to trickle back into Alistair's conscience. Memories of fall outs he'd witnessed between friends, fights he'd broken up, even the odd fight he ended up in himself flashed in his eyes. When he reached the main gate that the students were supposed to use, a particular memory flagged up in his head.

It was a memory of the day he'd gone on his first date with his then girlfriend. What should've been a pleasant memory – to an extent – didn't exactly go the way one would expect a 'good' memory to go.

After Alistair, his girlfriend and his best friend had finished late they left through the gates he was currently stood at. The plan for them had been that the trio would walk back together then split up, Alistair's best friend would go home, than the couple would head back to his, get changed from their school uniforms and head to the beach for a long walk. That part of the plan had gone smoothly, despite how the relationship ended, that first date was a good memory for Alistair. The walking home bit however, hadn't gone quite so smoothly… Just as the trio were walking from the gate, Alistair had been approached by one of the youths from a lower year, and proceeded to try and backhand slap the redhead down where the sun didn't shine.

Quite why that youth had decided to pick a fight with a total stranger was a mystery to Alistair, even now he didn't understand why it happened, but as the youth apparently had an older brother who'd been locked up; common sense and dignity mustn't have been a family trait.

Even before gaining the ability to use magic, Alistair wasn't a push over at school despite all the verbal and mental abuse he suffered from. He was an accomplished martial artist at the time having trained for seven years by that point. So it had come to a shock to the kick when not only had he not made contact with his intended target, he'd been physically caught in Alistair's vice-like grip too.

From there a shouting match ensued between the pair, the youth demanding to be let go and Alistair trying to calmly explain it hadn't been a wise decision to attack him. In the end Alistair's patience ran out as the calm approach had been falling on deaf ears. So he did the only thing he thought would get the youth to stop screaming at him; knock the wind out of him: With his knee; his very dense, bony, knee.

On reflection Alistair must've struck a pair of ribs judging by how later on the youth was clutching at his left side but was still, just about, capable of breathing, rather than in the solar plexus like he'd intended.

Before he'd been capable of finishing explaining to the youth why he was an imbecile, two more youths, both of whom were in the same year as Alistair, jumped him. Fair play to one of them as he'd only put Alistair in a non-painful double arm lock above his head, probably to get Alistair off of the smaller youth because of a misunderstanding. The second one however wasn't quite so, restrained.

Alistair had been informed a few days later by his best friend that he'd taken four full power punches to the back of the head. He'd known that he'd taken at least two based off of the two headaches he'd had on opposite sides of his head during his date later that day. The other two punches he could not remember feeling.

At that point, the youth – clutching at his ribs – tried to kick Alistair in the crotch, shouting obscenities as he'd did so. The blow hadn't even registered with Alistair, as he was released from the arm lock, more to do with the headshots than anything probably. The fact that he'd taken, by the youths reckoning anyway, quite a beating and was still _smiling_ let alone standing probably had a harder psychological impact on that trio, and apparently the school's populace later on, than the physical impact they'd tried to inflict upon Alistair.

The Fairy Tail mage chuckled to himself as he remembered how that, admittedly, one-sided beating ended.

Still on the defensive, Alistair had turned to see who the pair that got the drop on him was. The one that had punched him looked fiercely at the redhead, and the one who'd held him looked on with a cocky grin that tried to show disinterest. However, no matter how hard they tried to hide it, Alistair could see glints of disbelief in their eyes. When he turned to the youth, seeing as how nothing had happened, he was greeted with a look of shock.

"Anything else you guys want to add?"

After that quip Alistair, his girlfriend and his best friend left the scene. The pair were equally worried about Alistair's well being, thinking he could have been concussed, but were just as stunned as the assaulting trio that he brushed it off as nothing more than a bad headache.

In retrospect, despite having been beaten up, Alistair later went on to enjoy that day, even with the simultaneous headaches he had on the sides of his head. But the fact that the incident had taken place right outside of the school, and probably had several more witnesses than Alistair remembered was never brought up by the teachers or any of the staff. In the context of what happened, that might've been a small thing; but it certainly added to Alistair's hatred of the school.

"Well, at least I'm learning to look on the bright side." The redhead mused.

After a couple of minutes just chuckling about the whole incident, Alistair headed into the school. The front of the school from the main gate was well sculpted; a curving grey path split around isles of grass growing on mounds, leading a person either to the side of the newest part of the main building – the English block – to the left, or towards the older part; either into the science and geography block, the staff lounge, or the main hallway that ran pretty much the entire length of the school.

The door that led into the main hallway was a dilapidated steel and glass affair. The paint was peeling off, so that you couldn't tell whether it was supposed to be a dark green, pale lemon yellow or just white, and the glass itself had seen much better days based on how little you could actually see throw it. The entire door itself, despite being made of steel, felt flimsy. That much was evidenced when someone opened it; you could feel the damn thing flexing in your hand as you wrenched it open.

By contrast; the staff lounge had a modern white PVC and glass hybrid door. As the steel door for students was directly opposite it, one could argue that it was a perfect contrast between the lives of the students that had to attend by law and the teachers who were paid to be there. When walking up to the two entrances, between them you could see into the staff room, apart from the tea and coffee making facilities, which for some reason were always hidden by the carousel blinds. It wasn't what you would describe as being plush, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it was at the very least comfortable.

It was spacious with cheap sofas and coffee tables, along with an airy feel to it: Thanks in part to the abnormally high ceiling and the skylights that dotted along the top of the furthermost wall.

Just through force of habit and muscle memory, which five years on was still ingrained into him, Alistair went in through the student door where he was greeted with a dark, dingy corridor that led to a junction with the main hallway. There was no natural light coming in at all, the overhead spot lamps were about as good at illuminating the room as a handbrake would be useful on a canoe. Off to the left was one of the science rooms, a dark green door with a vertical sliver of glass that had cross hatching wire through it was all there really was you could see of the room from the outside. To the right, where Alistair headed, was a staircase that led up to two of the three language department rooms and two of the three art rooms. As soon as you were parallel with the near-most banister of the stairs, the floor changed from a dark green, almost black thin wispy carpet - that came with extremely well-rubbed in black chewing gum stains for that authentic look - to a light blue vinyl like material that had white vain like marks all over it.

Next to the stairs was a pair of double doors that went down to the canteen and main hall, along with the design/technology block and the library. Rather than go that way, Alistair went left, passing a room that was normally used for history classes but apart from that didn't really specialise in anything, next to which a room - that Alistair had always associated with maths - was.

Before leaving school it had been converted from just a normal class room into a science room, complete with gas taps, sinks and bar stools as opposed to the normal desks and chairs. As Alistair had only used it once in that guise he hadn't remembered what it was really like; so instead he'd recreated it like it was originally.

Walking along the long, dark and narrow hallway was not a pleasant experience for Alistair. Even without a thousand plus teenagers trying to shuffle along from one end to the other to contend with, it was still claustrophobic. The hairs on the redhead's arms were beginning to stand on end; the lack of heating in the building was becoming evident.

"Why'd I remake this place so accurately?" The Arc of Embodiment mage bemoaned, teeth chattering as he said it.

On the opposite side of the corridor to the maths room was a narrow pair of new, heavy steel and glass doors. In his fourth year at the school, the old, flexing doors that lead out to the playground – one pair at this end of the corridor, the other pair just diagonal from the internal staff room door – were replaced with brand new dark green ones that were easily three times as thick as the ones they replaced, and easily a hundred times sturdier. Even now Alistair had a slightly difficult time opening them.

He walked out onto playground; right next to the double deck temporary building was, proceeding to sit at one of the four metal picnic benches, as with anything metallic within the school's perimeter they were painted that same shade of uninspiring dark green. Alistair couldn't help but let out a sarcastic laugh, even nature was helping to recreate his school judging from all the water droplets scattered across the picnic tables.

Alistair sat at one of the tables, placing his elbows one of the metal bars that made up the table, where he interlocked his fingers and placed his nose on the knuckle of middle right finger. He sat there contemplating everything that he could remember from the days he'd been forced against his will to spend here. If there was one benefit to getting older, right now – for Alistair – it was the degradation of the memory. The vast majority of what happened to him, his close friends, and even his distant friends had become long since lost in his subconscious. Never to be seen again through his own choice.

The Joker's fear magic had brought possibly a good half of those long repressed memories back to Alistair during the fight in the bank. Fortunately though, as soon as Cancel had finally worked all of those resurgent memories fell back deep down into the labyrinth of Alistair's mind: Where they rightfully belonged.

As he sat there waiting for Lucy to meet up with him again, the maelstrom of rage, anger and hatred began to stir once more within Alistair. His breathing deepened, concentrated almost. His hands started trembling and he couldn't help but let his feet judder nervously. The deeply rooted memories – the ones that only memory manipulation, his own mind altering magic or the curse Macro could remove from his conscious – replayed themselves in his head over and over again like a video on loop.

Each and every time they continued his breathing quickened, becoming shallow in the process, and his eyes wavered; becoming increasingly red and puffy as tears tried to break out.

Even as Lucy came up behind Alistair he was shaking all over, causing his breathing to tremble too. His thought projection rejoined with him signalling the end of Lucy's tour. He hadn't even noticed until she put her hand on his shoulder. Crouching next to him, the blonde mage began to just gently soothe Alistair; mollycoddling him almost.

"I'm finished looking around Ali. We can start to get going if you want?"

She put her other hand on his knee, gently rubbing it as she looked down to the gritty and worn tarmac the benches were bolted to.

"When I had my third counsellor, I told him that I'd always wanted to burn this place to the ground to help make the pain go away. He'd said to me that one way people who went through money issues would burn the paperwork after they'd finally sorted it out as a way of moving on from it.

"Back home I could never actually go through with doing it, no matter how much I may have wanted to. Now though. Now I have a way of getting my wish to see this place being reduced to little more than ashes."

Lucy listened intently to Alistair as he spoke, finding the wavering determination in his voice somehow mellifluous.

"But… Even when I had the chance to do so before Tenrou Island happened, then after we came back before the Grand Magic Games… I just couldn't bring myself to do it. For some, stupid reason, I just couldn't do it. Now though. Now it comes down.

"Today: It burns."

As Alistair finished speaking, his pupils began to turn from their natural black to white…

The redhead stood up from the picnic bench, taking Lucy by the arm back to where they'd originally left the Lamborghini on the playground.

Lucy had little idea as to what Alistair was about to do, yes he had implied that he was going to burn his creation down; but he hadn't stated exactly _how_ he was going to do it.

The Arc of Embodiment mage stood with his arms extended outwards, hands open, as an orange aura lightly billowed out around him. The aura burst out as a wave, engulfing all buildings on the campus. The aura shifted from an orange colour to a dark blue hue before dissipating. From the outside at least, nothing seemed to have changed greatly. Knowing Alistair though, Lucy was pretty sure something had happened.

Alistair turned around to face the Music and Religious Studies huts, the sclera of his eyes started to shift from their normal deep blue to a fierce yellow colour, his pupils still white.

"Lucy, stay behind me." The Celestial Spirit mage did as she was told, slightly unsure as to what was about to happen. She hadn't yet noticed her partner's eyes.

Holding his arms out at full arm-span, the redhead clicked his fingers simultaneously. A split second later, the two port-a-cabins exploded. Scorched woodchips flew all around; some pelted the radiant wave shield Alistair had generated. Ripples of flowed around the translucent red sphere Alistair had generated.

Flames licked the remains of the destroyed walls, rising up onto the roofs of the burning husks. Black smoke billowed from the flames, rising high into the sky in massive plumes. As the flames burned higher – and subsequently the smoke rising higher above the shacks – twisted metal canisters could be seen with the contents very much on fire also.

"So that's what that wave of magic was for…" Lucy quietly realised. The wave of magic Alistair had sent out earlier had created flammable and explosive material to form within the buildings, that's why nothing on the outside had seemed to change; because nothing outside had changed.

However, whilst that might've explained what was fuelling such large flames, it didn't explain what actually triggered the explosion.

After lowering his arms, Alistair let out a relieved sigh. Revenge, it was sweet.

Turning around to face the other temporary building that had effectively become permanent, the whites of Alistair's eyes turned black. The entirety of his eyes had shifted into negative now.

Leaning forward, the redhead held his right arm up straight before swinging it down across his front.

"Bakurasen!"

An explosion coupled with a vortex of fire erupted from the centre of the building, engulfing the entirety of the student support building. The windows shattered into little more than micro-shards, pieces of ripped up corrugated steel flew out in every direction.

When the smoke cleared only the concrete base remained intact. Even then, the centre where the explosion had originated had something of a crater left within the concrete. Debris was scattered everywhere, some had made it as far as halfway up the longest playing field.

Lucy had to cover herself in shock even though the radiant wave shield was up. When she stood tall again, her eyes were wide. Total disbelief set in.

"Ali… you used a… curse?"

When he turned to face Lucy, she finally noticed the difference in Alistair's eyes. The yellow sclera and white pupils unnerved the blonde.

"How did you…?"

"Behold how the negative emotions this place created within me manifest, and ultimately, become its own downfall!" Another explosion went off at the front of the school; this one shook the ground with the force of the blast. Secondary explosions went off, Lucy swearing that some were originating from underground.

The science and geography block, at the front of the main building, had exploded as a result of Alistair's earlier wave turning on every single last gas tap in the block and his curse detonating the lingering methane; even the unreleased gas still in the pipes under the school.

Because of the number of chemically fuelled explosions that had occurred, the sky was beginning to be blocked out by the thick black smoke billowing from the three fires across the sight.

All the while, Alistair – with a frightened Lucy in tow – walked back along the playground to the oldest part of the building; the canteen and design technology department.

Using his right hand, fore and index fingers extended, Alistair gestured at the ground then raised it up. As he did this thorny vines emerged from the ground on both sides of the canteen, enclosing entirely around the canteen, kitchen and media room above the canteen. Thorns rose up the side of the design block - that sat perpendicular to the canteen - interlocking with the first thorns normal to the new ones.

When Alistair clenched his fist, the vines all contracted on the building, glass shattering, metal snapping and concrete breaking reverberated from underneath the overlying thorns.

"Ibarabaku!"

Each and every single vine exploded. Displaced thorns were blasted into integral parts of the structure, weakening them for the shockwave to finish the steel rods and concrete blocks off. A twisted hulk of a building was all that was left of that part of the school. The ongoing fire would see to finishing it off completely.

Lucy watched with trepidation as Alistair merged two curses together to create his Exploding Thorn spell. She rushed to him when - after letting out a whooping cough – he collapsed onto one knee.

"Alistair! You ok?"

Before he could answer he coughed up a mouthful of blood, having to spit it out. Turning to face Lucy, he flashed a bloodied toothy grin.

"Never better,"

His eyes reverted back to their normal colour, much to Lucy's relief. There was no way that using curses as a human was healthy, let alone combining them.

"I'm out of curse power though, won't be doing any of those Explosion Thorns again anytime soon." Every other word was followed by panting. Despite having only used a few spells, they had all put a larger than normal strain on his body that it just wasn't used to.

"How did you even use them in the first place?"

"After we learned about the Face Dystopias, between running the bar and taking the odd job, I worked out that if I unlocked my Second Origin and absolutely drained it, because of the depression it would manifest into internal curse power-"

"You hadn't banked on it being physically harmful to yourself though." Lucy interrupted. Alistair couldn't help but laugh. Lucy was completely right; he hadn't guessed that by allowing his Second Origin to become a vessel for curse power that it would negatively affect his health. After he'd managed to do it he had to visit Porlyursica – much to her chagrin – because having to wait even longer for his magic reserves to recharge, Alistair had affectively given himself magic deficiency syndrome. "You should take a break Ali. You're coughing up blood…"

"Are you kidding? This is the best I've felt for years!"

The celestial spirit mage frowned at his words. Revenge might've been doing his mental health good, wonders even, but was it really worth him risking his life for it? Lucy vehemently disagreed with that idea.

Spitting out a final glob of blood, Alistair stood up once more, cracking the joints in his neck.

"Don't worry though: I'm not going to be using anymore curses, not for a few days anyway."

After wringing his shoulders out, Alistair formed his Albion Wings; the green energy that formed the three feathers on each limb refracted the natural light around him. Taking to the sky, he soared a few tens of feet above the building, committing the aerial view of the burning school to his memory.

Hovering from his vantage point, Alistair stretched out his wings; the green energy feathers enlarged as a result.

"Light Shard Barrage," bolts of green light fired from the energy feathers, bombarding the main hall, IT and language departments, and the library. Every single bolt created a small explosion which in turn set off a chain reaction throughout that part of the main building. Window glass shattered as explosion after explosion detonated; showering the surrounding area in broken glass and other shrapnel.

As the explosions continued to reverberate throughout the immediate vicinity, Alistair swooped down low over the rooftops, landing on the longer playing field. Dispelling his energy wings, the redhead turned to face the English department. The Arc of Embodiment mage morphed his left hand into a Hadron Cannon, taking aim at the lower left corner of the building.

Alistair fired a single continuous shot at the building, tracing it along the length of the building. The blood red particle beam tore straight through the building, causing every single last gas canister, propane tank, explosive material to explode on impact.

The sheer destruction caused by that one spell caused the entire support structure to fail, bringing the first floor and curved roof crashing down to earth. The combined impact, damage and existing fires caused the other flammable materials that had been on the first floor to ignite too, setting off yet more explosions; utterly decimating the English block.

The redhead reverted his left hand back to normal as he walked towards the collapsed structure; the stark contrast between the collapsed English block and the vaporised student support building which sat parallel to each other was an interesting contrast to Alistair, showing just how different destruction could be. From where he was walking between the two wrecked structures, Alistair could see the last two parts of the school that were still standing: The Learning Support room, which had his old Spanish classroom on the floor above, next to which – out of sight – was the Inclusion Room; where pupils who'd been suspended had to report to for the duration of their suspension.

Behind that section was the gymnasium; the tallest structure of the whole school. He had a special plan in mind for that. Now though, he was going to see to the first section's destruction.

Morphing his right arm into his ultimate iteration of the Radiant Wave Surge Gauntlet, Alistair flexed the golden blade like fingers out in front of his face. Afterwards he morphed his left forearm into a six-rack missile launcher. Three warheads sat on the top side of his forearm, three below.

If someone didn't know what Alistair was capable of, seeing him with his arms so heavily armoured would've made people think he was ready for all out war. Without so much as a glance, he positioned his arm across his front, firing two of the missiles at the corridor that had yet to be demolished.

Upon impact the warheads slammed into the bricks and mortar; the warheads were plunged into the corridor by the booster rockets causing vast levels of radiation to leak into the corridor; superheating the contents of all the flammable and explosives containers. The rapid increase in temperature caused the contents to expand putting enormous pressure on the containers, to such an extent that the metallic containers began to bubble several seconds before igniting or exploding.

Lucy flinched again as yet more explosions roared out. She'd watched Alistair fly over the building, only having moved to the front of the Learning Support room to catch a glimpse of what her friend was doing in the field. She hadn't seen the hadron cannon tear through the English block but she had most definitely seen the structure collapse.

Seeing the almost maniacal glee plastered on Alistair's face, Lucy wanted to intervene in his actions, but she knew that he'd resent her for it if she did try to stop him from finishing the last few structures off. Revenge for the sake of revenge was not a concept that Lucy could ever comprehend herself, retaliation for harming her nakama yes, revenge for the sake of revenge; no.

The blonde Celestial Spirit mage stood tentatively behind Alistair as he stopped a Radiant Wave Surger's length from the brick wall Lucy had been stood by.

"I wonder if this will work…" Alistair pondered aloud as he placed the main firing barrel of the Radiant Wave Surger against the wall, knife like fingers spread out wide against the brick and mortar wall. He pushed his palm into the wall while simultaneously pumping three times as much radiation into the wall as the earlier missiles had, combined.

As he did this, bricks began to fall from the upper sections of the wall. Lucy, who was stood right behind Alistair noticed this and was about to take evasive action before she saw the rubble impact the Radiant Wave shield that had been activated unbeknownst to her. Because the wall was much thicker than the corridor wall it took a few minutes longer for the gas tanks to superheat and rupture than earlier, despite the higher dosage of radiation Alistair was pumping into the room. Eventually though, the result was the same; utter destruction.

Moving along to the inclusion room Alistair fired a single red beam from his gauntlet at the tanks he could see through the old, deteriorating windows. Unlike the Hadron Canon's particle beam, which caused the explosives to detonate on impact, the Radiant Wave Surger, when fired at long range, had the exact same effect on objects as it did at close range. The beam caused all fluids it impacted to superheat and expand, which out in the open didn't really do anything significant. However, if the fluid was in a vessel, like a container - pressurised or otherwise – it would cause the container to rapidly expand to the point that it looked like it was bubbling until it either ruptured or exploded. It was more often the latter.

Before dispelling the missile launcher gauntlet and the Radiant Wave Surger, Alistair took a glance at the mesh fence to his left, its existence had always irritated him for it had never really appeared to serve much purpose, but it wasn't worth the effort of blowing up. So, to get rid of it before the grand finale, Alistair utilised one of his Radiant Wave Surger's lesser used spells.

Straightening out his mechanical hand, radiation magic began to flow into a disc in front of the red core that was the firing barrel. Alistair then threw the radiation disc like a discus at the fence. It cut straight through like a buzz saw. Not only that, but it went through the second fence thirty metres behind and kept going. The radiation disc cut into the mound of earth at the back of the field, causing the water in the soil to superheat and subsequently the mound to liquefy.

Once again, Alistair dispelled his arm back to normal. With Lucy in tow, he walked back to where they both started from; the centre of the playground.

Holding his hand out as if he was handling a pistol; a mechanical device formed within his grip. It looked like a modernised flintlock type pistol with half a block placed on top of it. At the front of the block was a clear glass hemisphere and on top of that was a small laser sight-like reticule. In front of the grip was a cylindrical piece that served as a second grip directly underneath the glass dome. The barrel wasn't an actual firearm type barrel; it was a laser pointer.

Lucy looked at the gun shaped device with intrigue; it didn't look like anything Bisca or Alzack had ever used to her knowledge. She watched as Alistair took aim at the glass panes that made up the top two thirds of the gym. The red laser pointer could just about be seen by Lucy as it juddered because of Alistair's natural pulse induced vibration.

Clearly Alistair wasn't happy with the positioning so moved to the furthest post of the cut down fence was, in relation to the gym.

"I hope you're ready for the grand finale, Lucy." Alistair pulled the trigger back one stage so that he could line up the laser on the target. When he was satisfied the redhead pulled the trigger all the way.


	8. Chapter 8

"Hammer of Dawn!"

A series of single beeps reverberated out from the targeting device every half a second for two seconds. Once the beeps stopped, four sickeningly yellowish orange beams impacted the ground from the sky before converging into one single beam. The clouds reflected the orange colour and circled the beam that penetrated them.

Right upon impact, before the subsequent explosion, the ground shook like an earthquake simply from the force of the beam impacting the ground.

Lucy watched in awe as the remaining structure of the school, wasn't so much destroyed by the explosion, it was out and out vaporised. The destruction was total and utter. Not a single wall or brick survived the combination of the Hammer of Dawn and the flammable/explosive materials hitting the gym. All that was left of the three story gymnasium was a crater in the ground; even the foundations had been destroyed. Twisted steel cabling was visible within the crater around where the support walls had been.

Looking around, the pair noticed that the shockwave from the blast had caused the trees in the distance to bend back and in some cases had actually managed to fell some of them. Lucy couldn't help but be in total awe of what her surroundings had become; it was as if the Plutogrim and Atlas Flame had just gone on a rampage through the area. Alistair had not left a single structure standing.

In stark contrast to Lucy's fear, Alistair was positively exhilarated. The source of all his pent up hatred and rage was no more; it was nothing but dust in the breeze now. All of the painful memories had burned away along with the buildings, lifting a colossal metaphorical weight from the mage's shoulders. It was so invigorating that he felt as though he was a foot taller.

With the massive endorphin rush consuming the Arc of Embodiment mage, Alistair pulled Lucy into such a tight hug that it knocked the wind out of her almost. He swept the Celestial Spirit mage of her feet, spinning her around in the air like a child a third her age. Lucy was completely caught off guard by her friend as she was mercilessly spun around by the older mage, having to cling onto him for dear life.

When he put her back on her two feet, Lucy noticed that Alistair was shaking and whimpering into her shoulder. No, not whimpering, it was a cross between a whimper and a small laugh.

"Ali, are you… crying?"

"Uh-huh… I'm just so happy that I don't really know what to do!" The redhead answered, laughing as he did so.

The pair staid embraced for a while. Whilst Lucy didn't necessarily approve of Alistair's choice of seeking revenge in the way he did, his current positivity was infectious. She was happy for him that he'd finally managed to overcome his inner demons. Perhaps now the normally stoic and pessimistic mage would have a brighter outlook on life.

In all the euphoria, Alistair had managed to forget that he was totally exhausted from having expended all his remaining power in that single hammer drop. As soon as he realised it, the exhaustion hit him like a train, instantly falling asleep in Lucy's arms with an inane grin on his face.

If it hadn't been for the smile on his face, Lucy would've been worried as Alistair was likely suffering from moderate magic deficiency syndrome. She stroked his sleeping face gently as he recovered his power.

* * *

It wasn't until after dark that Alistair woke up. He was still tired, however he felt a hundred foot tall, waking up for the first time after wiping out what had caused him to live in a wide awake nightmare was possibly one of the greatest feelings the redhead had ever felt. Stretching out, he couldn't help but groan, feeling several vertebrae in his back crack.

The groaning stirred a sleeping Lucy who'd fallen asleep next to Alistair. Immediately she realised that it was dark and also quite cold; so cold that she started shivering. Her shivers ceased when a blanket materialised over her shoulders.

"Hey sleepyhead," Alistair said softly. The hint of mischievousness in it earned him an unimpressed stare from Lucy. Ignoring it, he gave her his hand to help her up. "C'mon, let's go home."

As the two started to walk back to where Alistair had moved the car to, a sound disrupted the peaceful atmosphere. Initially the pair tried to ignore it, however, after Alistair had helped Lucy into the Lamborghini and was about to get in himself he saw the cause of the disturbance... Down the road from where the car had been parked up were three black clad figures.

"Oh you have got to be kidding," Alistair groaned as he figured out who the unwanted guests were.

* * *

"Alright boys, this'll be our new hideout!" A man, several inches shorter than Alistair, dressed in an all black cat suit, with a hard to miss backside claimed, looking directly up to the sky.

"Uh Boss, you sure about this? I mean, there's nothing on the map about a town bein' here." The shortest and largest cat suit clad man questioned. The sensible question earned him a thwack over the head from the boss along with a verbal bollocking.

The other lackey, the tallest of the three, noticed a figure walking towards the trio. Whilst the figure's features couldn't be made out properly, one thing was for certain; the figure was not happy judging from the orange aura being emitted from it.

"Boss… w-we might want to make a run for it." The taller of the two lackeys suggested. The boss of the group stopped his tirade at the fat lackey, holding him up by his suit, and looked at the approaching figure.

"Hey! You! This is the new hideout of the Jiggle Butt Gang, identify yourself!" The leader demanded, pointing a finger at the figure. His shoulders and arm slumped when a pair of red margins, armed with four pink, transparent energy feathers spread out from the figure's back.

The events that followed would forever remain in Lucy's memory as a mental scar. She was perfectly content with Alistair beating the tar out of the three thieves; however, what the redhead then did to the three with a felled lamppost would haunt her nightmares for a long time to come…

* * *

After the Jiggle Butt Gang had been forcibly, and somewhat horrifyingly, evicted from Alistair's self-made town, the trip back to Magnolia had been largely uneventful, partly because the pair didn't feel lively enough for any games like they had been on the out trip. On arrival to Lucy's apartment, Alistair asked if it was ok for him to crash on her sofa just for the night, to which the blonde reluctantly allowed.

* * *

It wasn't until midday the following day that the pair made it to the guild. Everyone was relieved, in typical Fairy Tail euphoria, to see Alistair return after having avoided them all for the past few days. Cana and Mirajane even declared it a cause for celebration, much to the Arc of Embodiment mage's embarrassment. As soon as it had been suggested, beer, wine, spirits and alcohol of indeterminate origin began to flow. However, before the party could get into full swing, everyone was stopped in their tracks as Erza placed a solemn hand on Alistair's shoulder.

"Are you feeling better in yourself, Alistair?" The woman known as Titannia gently inquired.

"I feel much better now Erza. There's little chance of me falling back into a funk like that again." Alistair smiled to the S-Class mage, which she returned.

"That's good to hear, now," Erza's face shifted from one of serenity to anger in a heartbeat. "Face your punishment for being so rude to turn your back on me!"

Much like the previous night with the Jiggle Butt Gang for Lucy, what Erza did to Alistair would haunt many a Fairy Tail mage's nightmares for years to come. Everyone, Alistair included, knew the pummelling was justified, but what happened with the barstool had certainly been overkill. Not that anyone was going to speak up against a pissed off Erza Scarlet.

Once everyone had recovered from the shock of Alistair's brutal punishment, it turned out to be quite the party in Fairy Tail; one that not many people who were there, would forget in a hurry.

Sat at the bar for a significant portion of the party, Lucy and Mira had their own little girly conversation. It started off clean until a drunken Cana joined in, groping onto Lucy's breast with one hand, and clutching a keg of booze in the other.

"Say Lucy, *hic* you and Ali were away for a good few days, anything _exciting_ happen that you want to share *hic* with Mira and I?" Cana sassily slurred. The connotations took Lucy a couple of minutes to sink in causing Lucy's cheek to heat up in embarrassment.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" The blonde vehemently denied, hoping that Mira would save her from the situation:

"Aw, come on Lucy, it's ok to tell us if you enjoyed it." Mira smirked deviously.

"NOOOO!"

* * *

Fin.


End file.
